Shashi-Sunanda celebrations

>> The voice that sends shivers down thinking women’s spines was as fruity as the accent was posh and the tidings it brought were aptly joyful: our friend the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, MP from Thiruvananthapuram, author and columnist Shashi Tharoor was calling to invite us to his home in Delhi to celebrate the occasion of his and wife Sunanda’s third wedding anniversary this Friday.

“It’s a happy celebration for all our friends and family,” he said, sounding jubilant. “And we want you to be there. Sunanda who has been travelling for an extended period is back and will be cooking all her famous Kashmiri dishes,” he said. “In fact, her son will be there too!” Sunanda, who is a renowned cook, has impressed some of the most discerning palates in Delhi, says her proud husband. “Just the other day Mehbooba Mufti came over and said the rogan josh Sunanda had cooked was the best she’d ever eaten!” As for Shashi, an avowed vegetarian -- his favourite dish prepared by his wife is Kashmiri Dum Aloo. “Come and celebrate the occasion with us,” he said. Happy third anniversary Shashi and Sunanda and may your plates always be full!

High powered and well-heeled >> She is head-corporate & marketing communication, at Star India and he is group president at RADAG and Anil Ambani’s point person in Delhi, in charge of everything that such an important position would entail and together Parul Sharma and Tony Jesudasan are one of the Capital’s most prominent power couples at the centre of its social whirl. Which is why this picture snapped in Paris depicting the couple on the loaf looking footloose and fancy free and very stylish indeed elicited our interest.

Parul Sharma and Tony Jesudasan

“It was taken en route to Montmartre to visit Sacre Coeur with our daughter Preetika doing a hop skip and jump behind us,” said Sharma, who was wearing a Sonia Rykiel top, a skirt by Ralph Lauren, glasses by Chanel, flats by a local French designer and carrying an unusual coloured LV bag accompanied by Tony “in all Ralph Lauren”. “Paris is a magnet; no other city in the world takes away your cares and stresses as instantly as Paris does. No other city ignites or reignites passion as Paris does,” she says. And who mans the store when they are both away on holiday? “Actually I receive more calls from the office than Tony,” laughs the glam communication executive.

Sushi with AD >> We bumped in to AD Singh who informed us that his Japanese restaurant and bar Ai in Delhi had opened on Monday in a beautiful new avatar ‘GUPPY by Ai’ in the hip upcoming Lodhi colony market.

“It’s been designed by fashion designer Anshu Arora and it’s a paradigm shift in interiors, there’s no restaurant in Delhi that looks like it,” he said. That and the fact that he and Sabena will be bringing in his lovely daughter Zoe Tara‘s second birthday next week calls for a double celebration, we said.

Retreat with Sri Sri >> We have been charmed by the peripatetic new age guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on many occasions: at humungous maidans in Mumbai where he has glided in like a panther, his bright shining eyes incandescent from a mile off; at small anterooms of private homes in Juhu where he has peppered his discourse to a clutch of his faithful followers with his characteristic humour and at his own ashram in Bangalore where he reigns supreme.

But nothing compares to the invitation we received a few days ago from one of his devoted followers -- an attractive glamorous lady who is organising a retreat for a few chosen ones with the Master in Germany’s wooded Black Forest mountain range at a luxurious resort hotel.

Will we go? We’d love to but one look at the price tag and another at the falling rupee and we think spiritual enlightenment is just as good at home!

Between the lines >> For people who possess the ability to read between the lines, the smallest detail can yield sagas. And for a certain slice of SoBo‘s creamier lot, the death anniversary remembrance of a top city banker published this week by his family gave rise to much comment. At the centre of it all was the high profile battle between the late banker and his son, which had resulted in a familial split down the center. As had been reported by newspapers, on his passing his younger daughter had inherited most of her father’s wealth and the beleaguered son, along with his mother and elder daughter had got the short end of the stick. Adding to the trouble was the fact that a controversial builder and a flamboyant hotelier had taken sides with the sister and brother. As an insider said, “That the father favoured this daughter above his other two children was his business. But whereas the lady in question may not have caused the rift -- she certainly didn’t help patch things up between the warring sides of her family. And so it is understandable that their names would not be included in the remembrance in the two years following his demise.”

But, apparently, what shocked people is that in the last year following a patch up with her estranged sister and an extended holiday together in London which signalled a rapprochement between the two -- even this new development had not been reflected in the published remembrance. “That her brother’s name would not be included was a foregone conclusion,” said our source. “But what was surprising is that her sister’s -- even after their making up -- was not. Well-wishers of the family are surprised by this omission,” said our source. Tch Tch.